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Vancouver man killed in Nairobi terror attacks

Facebook posts are identifiying the second Canadian killed in a terror attack in Nairobi Kenya as a Vancouver man.
Vancouver businessman Naguib Damji is identified as one of the 68 victims of the terror attack.

Photograph by: Facebook
, Facebook

A family on Vancouver's North Shore mourned the loss of a father Sunday after two Canadians died in a weekend terrorist attack in Kenya that killed at least 68.

Karima Damji replaced her Facebook profile picture with a smiling photo of her father, businessman Nagib Damji, drawing condolences from friends for loss of what one termed “a great soul.” Other close family members repeated the act in a silent, but touching act of remembrance.

“I’ll never forget the way his face would light up with joy when he told stories of our family’s history and origins. A beautiful human being,” Abdulrehman Haneef wrote on one family member’s tribute.

Earlier in the day, Damji’s daughter requested privacy for the family in a message to Global News.

The two Canadians were killed as gunmen used AK-47 assault rifles and threw grenades at Nairobi’s upscale Westgate mall, a venue frequented by expatriates and wealthy locals.

Officials said the other Canadian killed was diplomat Annemarie Desloges, who worked at the Canadian embassy in Nairobi.

The attack that began Saturday dragged into Sunday, with 10 to 15 terrorists holed up inside the building with as many as 50 hostages as Kenyan authorities mounted what it called a final operation to end the siege. By evening, Kenyan officials said “most” hostages had been rescued.

Somalia’s Islamist rebel group, al-Shabab, claimed responsibility and said the attack was revenge for the presence of Kenyan troops in Somalia.

At least two Canadian citizens and one permanent resident of Canada were among the 175 injured.

A number of Canadians took to social media on Sunday to voice their sympathies for the families of the Canadian victims.

Desloges, 29, was off duty and shopping at the mall with her husband when gunfire rang out.

Her spouse, Robert Munk, was injured but has since been released from hospital. Her family requested privacy on Sunday.

The Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers, which Desloges belonged to, said it was “devastated” by the loss of one of its own.

“Annemarie was one of our bright young lights, and hers was a career brimming with promise,” president Tim Edwards said in a statement. “Today we grieve the loss not only of a warm and intelligent friend and colleague, but a lifetime’s potential tragically unfilled.”

Edwards said Desloges came from a “foreign service family” and had accompanied her parents on overseas postings before deciding to follow their footsteps in 2006. She served in New Delhi before moving to Kenya, where she had worked for two years.

Daniel Lee Howe, who once took a Foreign Service training session with Desloges in Ottawa in 2011, said he remembered her talking about getting married in Cuba.

While Howe called Desloges’ death a great loss, he said it wouldn’t stop him from taking on overseas postings.

“We’re trained for these events as part of the job.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canadians’ thoughts are with all the victims.

“The government of Canada wants to condemn, as strongly as we possibly can, this cowardly act that has taken place against many innocent people,” he said at an event in Toronto.

Facebook posts are identifiying the second Canadian killed in a terror attack in Nairobi Kenya as a Vancouver man.
Vancouver businessman Naguib Damji is identified as one of the 68 victims of the terror attack.

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